---
aliases:
- Michael Edwards
category: Psychics & Remote Viewers
summary: Michael Edwards was one of two young magicians, along with Steven Shaw, who
  participated in James Randi's hoax against the McDonnell Laboratory for Psychical
  Research at Washington University in 1983.
tags:
- Person
- RemoteViewer
---

Michael Edwards was one of two young magicians, along with [Steven Shaw](/people/steven-shaw/), who participated in [James Randi](/people/james-randi/)'s hoax against the McDonnell Laboratory for Psychical Research at Washington University in 1983. Edwards and Shaw pretended to be psychics capable of [psychokinesis](/concepts/psychokinesis/), using sleight of hand to simulate feats like spoon bending[^1].

They spent a total of five weeks in the lab over a three-year period. The hoax was later exposed by Randi, generating significant negative press for the parapsychology community[^1].

[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.